1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a medium delivery apparatus for separating and delivering media, such as checks and recording papers, sheet by sheet, and to a medium processing apparatus, such as a check processing apparatus, a printer, a scanner, and a magnetic reading apparatus, for delivering media, using the medium delivery apparatus.
2. Related Art
In financial institutions such as banks, checks (securities), such as a check or a bill, brought thereinto are put into a check processing apparatus to read images and magnetic ink characters printed on the front surface and the rear surface of the checks and to perform an operation of distributing the checks according to a result of reading the images and the magnetic ink characters. With the recent popularization of electronic payment, read image data and magnetic ink characters have been processed by computers to manage checks by computers. JP-A-2004-206362 discloses such a check processing apparatus.
In the check processing apparatus, checks are inserted into a check insertion portion in a stacked state and are delivered to a check delivery passage by a feed roller. A pressing member for pressing a check against the feed roller is placed in the check insertion portion.
A rotation-type member is employed as the pressing member, which is enabled to rotate around one end thereof to press a check against the feed roller at the other end thereof. The rotation-type pressing member is simple in structure and is highly reliable in operation, as compared with a parallel-movement-type pressing member.
The rotation-type pressing member presses only a check's portion that is opposed to an outer peripheral surface of the feed roller against the feed roller. Thus, the check is put into a state in which the check is not constrained in a stacking direction at the remaining portions thereof. Consequently, in a case where a check is creased at a leading end part thereof in a check delivering direction, the leading end portion of the check tends to unfold because the leading end portion thereof is not pressed. When the check is delivered from the check insertion portion via a delivery port having a narrow width, the check is likely to be caught in the delivery port. Thus, there is a concern that the check may be jammed therein.
Such an adverse effect can be avoided by completely pressing the check in the check insertion portion using a parallel-movement-type pressing member. However, as compared with the rotation-type pressing member, the parallel-movement-type pressing member is complex in the structure of a movement mechanism, and is large in the number of components. Thus, the parallel-movement-type pressing member is high in the manufacturing cost thereof, and is low in reliability.
In view of the above, in JP-A-2008-201501, a medium delivery apparatus enabled to surely deliver a sheet-shaped medium, such as a check, from a medium insertion portion using a rotation-type pressing member has been proposed. In the delivery apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-201501, a first pressing member that presses a sheet-shaped medium against the feed roller, and a second pressing member that presses a sheet-shaped medium's end portion in a delivering direction, are arranged. A sheet-shaped medium is delivered in a state in which the sheet-shaped medium is pressed by both the pressing members.